The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel on Sunday called on the Agriculture Ministry to freeze what it described as an attempted land grab, after the ministry published a draft order aimed at retroactively legalizing dozens of residential buildings built illegally on grazing land in the Galilee.

The draft order is based on the Law for Regulating Residences in Grazing Areas, passed last year at the initiative of the Settlement and National Missions Ministry, which is run by the right-wing Religious Zionism lawmaker Orit Strock.

Jewish-owned farms in the country’s north and south, home to large populations of Arabs, including Bedouin, are often seen as bulwarks against Arab residential and agricultural expansion.

The law names the Agriculture Ministry as the body authorized to issue building permits. The draft order aims to approve buildings on seven large farms in northern Israel, defining them as essential for flock protection.

The total land area in question — more than 51,000 dunams (12,600 acres) — is equivalent to that covered by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality.

According to the SPNI, it includes nature reserves, national parks, and forests, as well as areas designated by planners as highly environmentally sensitive.

The ministry........

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